behaviorism

US: /bɪˈheɪvjəˌrɪzəm/ ,(bi hāv′yə riz′əm)

WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2025

be•hav•ior•ism /bɪˈheɪvyəˌrɪzəm/   n. [uncountable]

1. Psychiatry, Psychology the theory that psychology can be studied only through the examination and analysis of behavioral events that can be observed, and not by trying to examine mental states.

be•hav•ior•ist, n. 

[countable] the most famous of the behaviorists.

be•hav•ior•is•tic, adj.: 

Behavioristic analyses can't tell us much about language ability.

be•hav•ior•is•ti•cal•ly, adv. 

WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2025

be•hav•ior•ism  (bi hāv′yə riz′əm), n. [Psychol.]

1. Psychiatry, Psychology the theory or doctrine that human or animal psychology can be accurately studied only through the examination and analysis of objectively observable and quantifiable behavioral events, in contrast with subjective mental states.

• behavior + -ism 1910–15

be•hav′ior•ist, n., adj. 
be•hav′ior•is′tic, adj. 
be•hav′ior•is′ti•cal•ly, adv. 

Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::

behaviourism, behaviorism / bɪˈheɪvjəˌrɪzəm/ noun

1. a school of psychology that regards the objective observation of the behaviour of organisms (usually by means of automatic recording devices) as the only proper subject for study and that often refuses to postulate any intervening mechanisms between the stimulus and the response
2. the doctrine that the mind has no separate existence but that statements about the mind and mental states can be analysed into statements about actual and potential behaviour
   Compare materialism2

beˈhaviourist, beˈhaviorist adjective , noun

beˌhaviourˈistic, beˌhaviorˈistic adjective